Efforts to implement NVIDIA's Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) on the open source Radeon Gallium3D drivers (for AMD/ATI chipsets) are reportedly just beginning to work. Being Gallium3D-based means this new VDPAU state tracker is using GPU shaders and not the dedicated Unified Video Decoding (UVD) engine found on modern Radeon HD graphics processors, but using shaders is still a big performance win for HD video playback compared to pegging the CPU constantly. Also, MPEG-2 is the only codec known to work at this time. Once the basic state tracker functionality works, support for other video codecs, such as VP8 and H264, should be relatively easy to add.

We wouldn't have the kick-ass GPUs we have today if a hardware compatibility requirement had been enforced.

Yes, it would make the life of hobbyist OS developers easier, but it would be at the expense of the majority, who'd rather have *fast* hardware acceleration than simply have access to basic functionality across a wide range of devices.

I'd rather have two major vendors with decent products than a whole bunch of vendors with semi-sucky products, like we had back in the dark old DOS days.